The Three Faces of Potter Chapter 1
by Freddie Rindklip
Summary: A multi-personality Harry AU major character death


The Three Faces of Potter AU Rating M

AN: The Three Faces of Eve gave me the title. I will try to tone down how trigger happy this Harry is. Is it clear that Range is the narrator for a triad consciousness? Trying to keep pronouns accurate while doing a first person is not easy. Warning some violence and major character death. I do not do lemons, but some is mentioned which occurs off screen. Woman's clothing is something I do not wear; therefore, I am not Jo. With that in mind I do not own Potter nor the Potterverse. Nor do I make any money for my efforts.

"Can you handle this Range"? Hair asked in my head. Instantly alert I saw goblin like creatures surrounding the bed. They were holding sharp bladed weapons. How did eight creatures with all that hardware sneak in on me? I must be getting soft was my reasoning.

"Gentlemen, to what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?" I asked. Crapping my pants was what I thought, but I wasn't going to let them in on that.

Range is my nickname. It is short for Ranger Rick. They gave it to me as during my time in the service I was an army ranger for a tour – that and Rick is my name. At seventeen I had graduated from high school. Immediately I enlisted in the 10th Mountain for a tour, then a tour as an army ranger then finally three tours as a navy seal. Between some of the tours I took courses in tech school. During the third tour I bought it on an Afghan battlefield. I was given a choice to pass on or help an abused kid. The red head who gave me the choice reminds me of Hair for some reason. I asked about the wife and kids. The answer was that was not one of the choices. That I am here tells you the choice I made.

Next up is Arkie, Short for Archeologist Julian. Scary smart. He speaks twelve different languages. Thirteen if you count math. He is not much in a fight, but his academic drive and book smarts are his strengths. He was at a dig that was invaded by looters. When he bought it, he was given the same choice as me. Now we both share the body with…

Hair named Harry James Potter. His folks were killed driving drunk. At least that is what the Dursleys told him. Once we found their journals, we knew the real cause.

We are currently living with Aunt Claire and her daughter Tricia. Claire isn't any blood relation although Tricia is mine. She is already displaying accidental magic. Aunt Claire is a cousin of Hermione something on the order of 3rd cousin twice removed. She had a job slinging hash. It brought in enough so that she could stay in her flat and eat a bit. Now we pay her rent, utilities, tuition and food while she goes to school. When finished she will be an accountant.

You are likely asking yourself how a ten-year-old kid can support his guardian. To answer that why don't I start at the beginning?

I was being manhandled into a closet (cupboard I learned is the Brit term) by a huge man. Then violently thrown in and the door slammed. "That will learn you to be late serving dinner", was shouted from the other side of the door.

"Who are you?", was asked of me in a little voice. Looking around no one was there. It hit me that the redhead meant I was to share Hair's head. Silently we introduced ourselves and started telling about ourselves. About half way through Arkie asked who we were, so we started over. It took weeks to come to terms with sharing a single body. Hair was given the lead as he knew our jailers – at first at least.

While we were getting to know each other, I took the time to liberate various tools to make our escape. First to escape the cupboard, then the house and finally to survive for a length of time on the outside. Surviving on the outside would be best to wait for summer. We never used the tools. The reasons why will be revealed later.

Whenever the Dursleys would leave – usually every weekend – we would leave our prison. We became experts at nicking small amounts of food that would not be noticed.

One of our few adventures outside the house was when Aunt Petunia would take us grocery shopping. Our job was to push the card and keep track of ingredients to make the meals. That we had reached a point that we could make meals from scratch had saved on the grocery bill. Not a word of thanks was heard of course. In addition, at the store care would be taken to liberate items. Oversize clothes helped with that. The liberated items would have either short term use – usually nutritional, or long term -usually something that could be modified for long term survival. Being over forty I knew that liberating was really stealing, as Arkie and Hair endlessly remined me. Since it was for animal survival, I dealt with it. My usual argument back was one day Vernon was going to cross the line causing real injury if we weren't ready. At times I noticed store employees watching us. As strongly as possible I thought at them not to notice me. To my shock it worked.

There was a junk room in the basement the modified items were stored in. Since Dudley preferred new items to destroy everything was left alone.

A disguised workout area was made in the basement. Hair and Arkie did not care for the initial sore muscles that caused. Even after we were in halfway decent shape they didn't like working out. Halfway decent shape in my opinion means something totally different to them.

School was also a challenge. Arkie wanted to have the best grades in school. Harry frantically urged him to make sure to score behind Dudley. We finally compromised on doing the work twice. Once was to score first in class and then to score lower than Dudley. The later was turned in. I was totally baffled by Arkie's reasoning. This was material for an eight-year-old level.

The occasional accidental magic totally threw me. I thought that somehow Dudley was doing something to get Harry in trouble. With each occurrence that explanation got harder to accept.

Then there were the personality conflicts. Arkie would give Hair a ration of shite for whatever it was he did to get us exiled into a cupboard. Hair would grouch back that Arkie was a barkie farkie. Why Arkie would seriously argue with an eight-year-old was beyond me. Also getting away from the Dursleys was a much better goal than irritating each other. For my part I drove both spare by my endless working out.

The day came when Arkie managed to slip a social studies project past Hair and me. He did a project on the Etruscan civilization. There were even a few translations included for goodness sakes. He was asked to give a demonstration at a teacher's convention. Hair was in absolute terror. Mrs. Schnell, our teacher, was shocked that someone that young could perform to that level. The teacher's convention was during the Easter break. The Dursleys decided to visit Aunt Marge so Harry couldn't attend.

There was a second child in Hair's year giving a demonstration. Their family agreed to take in Harry for the week if the Dursleys could get him to their house. Vernon threatened him the entire way. If Harry did anything to get the Dursleys away from Marge, the consequences would be dire.

Harry arrived with all his clothes in the world and his project. They fit into a small backpack. Before the Grangers even answered the door, Vernon was gone. Dan, Emma and Hermione gave him odd looks being without a guardian. Hermione even asked where his family was. Harry shrugged. Dan and Emma shared the first of many concerned looks that week.

We were invited in and settled into the guest bedroom. Hermione was in there telling us how everything worked. I was amused at her obvious joy at having another human being her age with her. Hair and Arkie, being less socially adept, were very confused. Hermione finally got around to her project which was Pliny the Elder penning the first encyclopedia. That had Arkie's attention. Of course, it wasn't really an encyclopedia… They were in an animated conversation until dinner.

Downstairs in the dining room Harry apologized for not making the dinner. Harry insisted on the smallest portion. Once finished he tried declining seconds. Arkie and I quickly stopped that. Arkie liked the veal they had served. I knew that to get in better shape good fuel was necessary. Both Hair and Arkie groaned at that.

The Granger adults finally got the conversation about Pliny the Elder stopped. Then they subtlety switched to Harry. Why didn't he bring a suitcase instead of a small backpack? Harry explained that he didn't need a larger one since he had brought all the clothes he owned. The shocked looks that drew shut him up quick. I took the front then and turned the conversation to other topics.

The next day we were the first up. I did my exercises then Harry was going to make breakfast. Not wanting him to think I was micromanaging I zoned out. When the Grangers came down Harry handed out the omelets. "Why did you make only three?", I heard Emma say. Damage control time again.

I made sure we had a good breakfast. Afterwards Harry insisted on doing the dishes. Emma was almost outraged at Harry acting like a slave. Dan drew her away while encouraging Hermione to help Harry.

After dishes Emma had Harry and Hermione get ready for a shopping trip. It was to get Harry some decent clothes. Two pair of trainers were all the shoes Harry would let her buy. Harry insisted that trousers and jumpers would be fine from the second-hand store. Emma agreed but only if Harry would let her buy him new underwear and socks.

Monday, we went to the convention. The reaction was mostly positive. Some industrial ed. teachers took it out on the kids that there was nobody to show off industrial ed. Hermione was almost in tears. A light above the group of teachers shattered showering them with glass. Then Hermione did break down. She insisted it was her fault. I insisted it was merely a coincidence as it happened around me too. Drawing her into my arms I hugged her.

"What could it be? Magic?", I asked her. "You aren't a magic user like me?", I asked her while rolling my eyes. She laughed then. Personally, I was now wondering about Harry and Her as I had an epiphany.

After that the industrial ed. teachers left complaining. Given my background I did sympathize to a point, but that Hermione was one of their targets lost that goodwill. We later found out that there really wasn't anything for industrial ed. at the convention.

Meanwhile Emma was up looking like a mother lion whose cubs were being threatened. Seeing the situation defused she sat back down.

After that the teachers were again supportive. Hermione and Hair (really Arkie) had a wonderful time explaining their displays. The teachers couldn't get over that at nine and eight the quality of their displays.

A few of the students with exceptional displays were asked back on Tuesday. Hermione and Harry were two of those asked back. It was another real enjoyable day for them.

Wednesday and Thursday Emma went in to work and Dan took the day off. He took them to a couple museums and dined out at kid friendly restaurants. Harry acted as if he had never experienced any of it.

Friday was Good Friday. While the Grangers were not overly religious, they did go to church on Good Friday and Easter. Again, Harry acted as if he never saw anything like it. On Saturday was an Easter themed play. Harry and Arkie enjoyed it. Being cultured is not my favorite.

Sunday it was time to take Harry home. They stopped for dinner then on to the Dursleys. Once there everyone piled out of the car. Harry tried to convince them that they did not have to come in with him. Dan and Emma were not having it.

In came the whole group. Emma displayed where Hermione received her smarts. She marched right up to the cupboard under the stairs and opened it, much to Harry's horror. Then she gushed over what a lovely bedroom it was. When Dudley wandered over to see what the fuss was about, she asked him which cupboard his bedroom was. When he proudly informed her that he had two bedrooms Emma smacked her hand on the cupboard door in anger.

"Why did you take in an orphan if you hate him so much?", she asked the Dursleys.

"Dumbledore" began Petunia. She put her hand over her mouth then.

"Tell them nothing", Vernon roared.

"You will tell us what is going on or you will be visited by the police", this from Dan.

Petunia looked at Vernon and told him to take Dudley and go to an arcade. Dudley whooped.

Petunia waited for the male Dursleys to leave then started. "That boy", while pointing at us, "is a freak".

She eventually explained what she knew about James, Lily and the evil wizard who murdered them. She brought out an envelope, wand and charm bracelet and placed them on the table.

Harry opened the envelope. When he asked Emma told him it was a parchment envelope. He pulled out a letter which was also of parchment.

Harry

If you are reading this, dad and I are likely dead. An evil wizard named Voldemort is after us and the Longbottom's. We are in hiding hoping to be safe.

The charm bracelet Tunie gave you has two trunks and two broomsticks. One trunk is my school trunk. The second is a special one your dad had made. It has many special features which a note inside it explains. Move the bracelet to an area with lots of room and tap it with the wand.

Love Mum

Harry walked into the living room and placed the bracelet on the floor. He tapped it gently with the wand. It expanded into two trunks and two broomsticks. Harry tapped it a second time and it shrunk back into a charm bracelet. He gave the wand to Emma and told her to tap the bracelet.

"It only works with freaks", Petunia shrieked.

Harry again told Emma to tap it. She did, and nothing happened. Responding to Harry's instructions Dan tapped it. Then Hermione tapped it. It then expanded into two trunks and two broomsticks. I looked at Hermione and said, "It appears that you have magic too".

Petunia then ordered us out of her house and told the Grangers to have their solicitor conduct any further communications. "The freak is yours since you want him so badly", were her parting words.

We walked out with a feeling of relief. Meanwhile in a castle in Scotland numerous instruments stopped working in the headmaster's office. Since the headmaster was away on ICW business it was nearly the start of the next term before he discovered anything. By then the Dursleys had transferred guardianship to Aunt Claire. Doing this brought down the wards Dumbledore had set around the Dursley house.

Once back at the Grangers the trunks were again opened. The first was Lily's trunk as she mentioned. The second had seven compartments. The most impressive compartment was the one with the four-bedroom flat. The flat also had two loos, kitchen, dining room and library. Hermione and Arkie were hyperventilating over the library.

After a while Dan looked at his watch. "Kids it is 11 PM. You really need to get to bed". They got washed up but sleep really took a while to arrive.

I woke early and went into one of the larger looking compartments. It was large enough to get in a decent workout. Then it was a shower.

Hermione came in while we were getting out of the shower and almost received an eyeful. Regaining my modesty, I dressed. Dan and Emma came in and ordered us to the kitchen. Breakfast was made then we were given strict orders. Stay out of the trunk unless a parent was with us. They asked us if we wanted to stay with them for a while until a more permanent placement could be found. The immediate plan was for us to stay with them until at least the end of school term. The removal of guardianship from the Dursleys was to keep Dumbledore away.

We went to school, did homework, did family things and explored the trunk. In one of the rooms was a second charm bracelet. There was only one trunk on it. There was a large sum of money and note in it. After counting it was just over 10000 pounds. The amount was exaggerated later to justify how I could afford to support Claire.

Harry

In case you must do a runner use the money.

The pass phrase is, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good"

Dad

We practiced on the trunk. We found it didn't have to be Harry to open the trunk. Any of us could. Then Arkie said the pass phrase while tapping the note. It became a book. The book directed us to the location in the library where mum and dad's journals could be found among other gems. A gold mine to say the least. In the journals were notes from mum and dad's time at Hogwarts and later. One instruction in the front of every journal was a warning about the statute of secrecy.

The library had copies of some of the more important books of what were in the Potter vault. Where was the Potter vault? Could we find out? For now, we would learn all we could with what we had. Also, how could we find a way of accidently finding the journals, so we could openly study them.

One day Harry excitedidly exclaimed, "What's this?". He and Hermione poured over the journals for as long as the parents would allow. They were only allowed to take one volume out to study at a time. Great for when they were not allowed into the trunk. Harry would take James and Hermione would take Lily's.

Through the school term and into the summer they studied. During that time Claire was introduced. We decided that we would like to have her as our guardian.

There were numerous discoveries after we moved in with her. They had been made earlier, but Hermione was a real stickler for following rules - and laws. One of James journals had detailed instruction on how to make counterfeit money that would pass for the real thing. In that same journal was the location of a time turner. It would turn back up to three days' time. In another journal were instructions on summoning the Potter family grimoire. For some reason those went missing before Hermione could read them. One she could see had instructions on making a portkey.

Reading the grimoire there was a ritual to increase the Potter family. After performing it I found why it was wise to proceed carefully with performing rituals. It put out a strong compulsion for a male and female to mate. It also greatly increased fertility. Claire and I could not look at each other without blushing for days. Tricia was born nine months later.

Seven years of Hogwarts was going to require some serious coin. An uncle was a coin dealer for a while. He would tell me about trading in gold and silver bullion. With counterfeit money and a time turner I had an idea to come up with some serious coin.

It was great to have Arkie for all this studying. He could read almost as fast as he could turn the pages. After the third time he read the book he could pass a test on the material. That didn't help much with topics where the context was unknown. Even with that it greatly expanded our knowledge quickly.

With a port key made we traveled to the colonies. With my knowledge from time in the military we were able to get to many major airports. Then it was a matter of fitting into a crowd and putting on a glamour. A rental car and a hotel room and we were set for a weekend. At first, we would go to individual dealers to buy small amounts of gold and silver. Then we learned about large coin shows. Now we could buy and sell large amounts. It may seem strange to buy and sell possibly taking a loss on each transaction. The intent was to get rid of the counterfeits.

Harry and Arkie were not happy that I would pick up a date at many of the shows. Harry especially did not like all the old women I went out with. Thirty to fifty did not seem old to me. When around Yule we found out about Claire being pregnant, he insisted the dates end. From her weight gain I suspected months earlier.

That is how the term went. On about thirty weekends Friday through Sunday were spent at a coin show in the colonies. The time turner was activated, and the weekend was repeated in Britain. Many weekends were spent with the Grangers. Hermione could not get enough of Harry's friendship. I suspected that mutual feeling was developing. The library was also an attraction.

Soon it was early in the summer holidays, and the visitors. Eye Gouger introduced himself and excused the rest of the goblins.

"What about the baby?", I asked.

"Mimsy, a house elf is with her", I was informed. Then he explained what a house elf was. Then why a house elf could be relied on to care for the her. Then about twenty other questions. I was seriously wondering when he was going to get annoyed with all the questions I was asking. He finally told me that I could ask questions all day since as my account manager I was paying him twenty galleons per hour.

"What are the pounds to galleons exchange rate?", was my next question.

"About twenty-five pounds per galleon", was his answer.

Then I asked for the reason for his visit. He advised me to stop passing counterfeits at coin shows in the colonies. The goblins had received word from the dwarves about me. The dwarves were going to move on me when they discovered that I was the last remaining Potter scion. Me having an "accident" would mean that the ministry of magic would get the contents of my vaults – the goblins would no longer have profit from fees from investment income. It is not smart to deprive goblins of profit.

What was agreed to was that I would buy goods and services from the dwarves at inflated prices to draw down my ill-gotten gains. The money in the vaults would not be touched. I do not have to understand their reasoning was my thought.

"Now Mr. Potter you have about eight hundred thousand galleons is that correct?", he asked.

I allowed that it could be.

Eye Gouger offered to perform an audit. The fees would not come from my vaults. "You really want to make sure you do not short the dwarves. This way we goblins certify the correct amount of gold is turned over to the dwarves", he advised me.

That persuaded me. Then we started horse trading on how to draw down the funds. Mimsy the house elf, lessons in dwarfish and goblin cultures were mandatory – we did not want to upset either of them again. After that we agreed to Hermione and me taking these lessons. Several books and lessons on various subjects not offered at traditional schools was offered. If they were offered, they were not offered until perhaps the third or fourth year. Another issue was that if the teacher was not competent, we could utilize their tutors. This was agreed to.

I asked if we could continue to take these tutors instead of attending Hogwarts. Eye Gouger said that for Hermione it was not a problem. For Harry Potter it would be a major problem. Dumbledore was powerful both magically and politically. It would not be wise to seriously annoy him like that.

I was really getting annoyed as to why an old man like Dumbledore had such a creepy interest in a ten-year-old. Especially since he didn't have time to give a rip about my life.

Within days Eye Gouger and gotten back to me. In additional to what we had agreed to , lessons in dwarfish and goblin cultures, there would also be deportment, scion of ancient house training, runes, arithmancy, history, mind magic, teleportation, healing – mostly battlefield healing, potions, and herbology. Hogwarts has competent herbology instruction, but not so in potions. Potions and herbology should be taken together was the reasoning. Then I asked about sword training and was assured it was not a problem.

Sessions would start the following Monday. That would mean we had eleven weeks of lessons over the summer. Once school started in the fall a reduced schedule of lessons would take place.

We still needed to draw down some funds. It was clear to Eye Gouger that most Potter properties had been neglected due to incompetent management (guess who). Seven in total. That did not include Godric's Hollow as Dumbledore had graciously given it to the ministry as a monument to the Potters. Seven elves and a goblin sword should draw down the funds nicely. That would leave about a quarter of the funds remaining. An accounting would be delivered in a week or so. The balance of funds would draw down during the next ten years.

Eye Gouger then made clear that I would not get a statement about my vaults until I turned eleven. "At that point if you notice something that does not look right you can stop it.", he advised. He maintained eye contact for several seconds.

"Great", I thought. "Something else Dumbledore is looting".

The summer was busy with all the lessons. Aunt Claire was pleased to have a nanny. The Grangers and Aunt Claire were pleased to have access to a Potter property on the Mediterranean, and other choice locations. There was another in Colorado in the colonies. The skiing is excellent according to the reports.

In the fall school started back up. Harry was ready for a break. Unfortunately, that was not to be. School and homework took up a good portion of time. Deportment, scion training, mind magic and for me sword training were necessary. That did not leave much time for the rest of the lessons. Arkie and I did not need the muggle school. Harry did so we were stuck.

We have a communal knowledge area we access but it is still necessary to be have the schooling.

A private floo was set up between Claire, the Grangers and the various Potter residences. The goblins also warded all the properties. It was necessary from a security standpoint, but it ate into the remaining money.

At the Potter residences we met the portraits. Learning about Hair's ancestors was nice. His mum and dad had words about Dumbledore and Snape. It seems that Snivellus waited outside Godric's Hollow for Voldemort to slaughter the family. Then he was going to swoop in and carry Lily off saving her from the evil Potters.

I figured out why the red head who gave me the choice reminded me of Hair. He had her eyes.

Now he was teaching potions at Hogwarts. That and his actions at Godric's Hollow made him a dead man walking in my eyes. It was unacceptable to have him "teaching" the son of James Charlus Potter. Hiring a team to watch Snivellus was next. It seemed that Tuesday evening he returned to Hogwarts after leaving his mistress' room at the Hog's Head. Laying in wait along the way was simple. A shot to center body mass and he was dead. Then attach a portkey to the stripped body and it is in the ocean. A charge goes off and the body is in pieces. A second portkey and the wrapped clothing sinks into the ocean at another location.

The rest of term was making sure Arkie was as prepared as possible for wizarding school. Lily's portrait assured him that he would likely be one of the most prepared. He is like Hermione that way. Those two drove Hair and I spare with their frantic preparation.


End file.
